Sister cities program provides francophones a WNY rendezvous
Bonjour! Welcome to Buffalo.
These are the first words a group of 40 French-speaking Belgian, Swiss and French nationals heard Monday morning when they entered Buffalo City Hall, where they met Mayor Byron W. Brown and toured the landmark municipal building.
“It creates a stronger bond between countries and helps build Buffalo’s identity as an international city,” said David Granville, the mayor’s liaison to Sister Cities for the City of Buffalo.
This visit marks the sixth time European residents have traveled to Western New York with the Buffalo-Lille Association. The group consists of people at the top of their fields, including business owners, heads of medical practices, teachers, architects and painters.
Fabienne Jorissen-Courcier, of Tourcoing, France, has come to Buffalo twice in the last 13 years. She said she comes back for the open and good-natured people who live here.
“What I love about Buffalo is the architecture and nature,” she said. “But the real thing I love is the people, especially the people.”
Her favorite Buffalonian is Cynthia A. Schwartz, executive director of corporate projects and initiatives for Roswell Park Cancer Institute. It’s not for her title, but her hospitality and friendship, staying with Schwartz each time she visits.
Jorissen-Courcier has also opened her house in France to Schwartz multiple times.
Schwartz jokes with all of those visiting, as well as the Americans who interact with them, telling each visitor how young they look. She says it’s because of the wine.
She said Jorissen-Courcier looks like she is in her 30s, but she is actually 60 years old.
“It’s all that red wine they drink,” she said, laughing. “We’ve all been trying to impress them with our best American wines, but you could probably guess how that goes. It’s really tough to impress anyone from France that an American wine is good too.”
The group comes to Western New York as part of a study tour through Jean F. Gounard’s organization.
Gounard, director of international student affairs at Buffalo State College and president of Buffalo-Lille Association, lined up a week’s worth of activities for the group, including the French-Indian War re-enactment at Old Fort Niagara and Maid of the Mist boat tours.
“Every day is jaw-dropping for them,” said Celeste Lawson, executive director of the Arts Council of Buffalo & Erie County.
“It’s just based on the way that every American lives. We live it large here, not like they do in Europe. Even little kids with cell phones are something they don’t have. Not because they can’t, but it’s just not the same proliferation. It’s just everything’s bigger here.”
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